ANEURYSM OF THE SUPERIOR MESENTERIC VEIN. A CASE REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Introduction. Venous aneurysms of the portal and mesenteric system are extremely infrequent and, of the cases that do occur, those involving the superior mesenteric vein are the rarest. Case report. A 77-year-old woman submitted to an abdominal ultrasonography scan which revealed the presence of an abdominal venous dilatation; an MR angiography scan confirmed the suspicion that it was an aneurysm in the superior mesenteric vein. Expectant treatment was established, with a two-year follow-up, after which the patient remained asymptomatic and without changes in the aneurysm of the superior mesenteric vein. Together with the case report, we also present a review of the literature involving all the cases published to date. Conclusions. Because of the extremely low frequency with which it appears, its natural history is still unknown. Although expectant behaviour is the approach adopted in most cases, patients must be warned of the possible complications, that is to say, thrombosis or rupture of the venous aneurysm, despite the absence of any objective data that can be used to predict the risk of complications.